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GWAMA hopes to hire student interns for summer

Posted: 6:21 PM, May 28, 2015

Updated:2015-06-01 12:47:38Z

By:
Taylor Durden

The Greater Waco Advanced Manufacturing Academy is looking to hire some of its own students for the summer. Juniors and seniors from McLennan County that are in GWAMA could soon be spending their summer vacation honing their skills in welding.

If Waco ISD passes it Thursday night, no more than four students would be paid $10 an hour to help the academy complete welding projects at the facility.

"Instead of going out and having other people do it, we thought it would be a good idea to let our students put to use some of the skills they've learned this year," said Brandon Cope, Director of GWAMA.

Last year, the academy had 60 students. The academy currently has 160 students and is continuing to grow. 125 of the 160 students enrolled are in the welding program, learning skills that GWAMA says students can take with them after graduation.

"We want to invest into our community with a quality employee for the potential employers of McLennan County and the surrounding areas. So what it does is this is going to give some of our students an opportunity to go to work and start getting some experiences," said Cope.

The Waco ISD board is set to vote on it Thursday evening. If it passes, Waco ISD will post the intern positions online and go through a hiring process. Cope says within two to three weeks, students should be hired and starting work.

"They're going to be able to put some welding assistant on their resume. They'll be able to put some welding work and just some other skills and shop experiences," said Cope. "Now it doesn't compare to what they might receive in a traditional welding shop, but it allows them to give back to the school and allows them an opportunity to put to use some of the skills."

All of the money to pay the students would come from the DOE grant, so no local taxpayer money would be used.